Political | Process

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, two of the most vocal organizers of the protests, were led away in handcuffs late Thursday.

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• On Friday, police confirmed Barber, 46, of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, had been charged with counseling to commit the offense of mischief, counseling to commit the offense of disobeying a court order, and counseling to commit the offense of obstructing police.

• Lich, 49, of Medicine Hat, Alberta, has been charged with counseling to commit the offense of mischief.

• Both are due in court on Friday.

• Dagny Pawlak, a spokeswoman for Freedom Convoy 2022, one of the main groups organizing the demonstrations, called the Lich’s arrest “absolutely baseless and a disgrace to any liberal democracy, although not a surprise.”

• The arrests came after two written warnings and multiple verbal ones from Ottawa Interim Police Chief Steve Bell, who told protesters on Thursday, “It’s time to go.”

• “Your time in our city has come to an end and you must leave,” he added.

• Despite the warnings and threats of arrest, some demonstrations remained defiant on Friday, digging in and telling the Washington Examiner they had no plans to leave and instead will “hold the line.” Some, at an intersection near Wellington Street, began dancing and began waving red and white Canadian flags.

• Though they have vowed to stay put, the Washington Examiner saw several tow trucks in the downtown core start to take away some vehicles.

• Most of the protesters that remained were the truckers who had been camped out in their spot in front of Parliament Hill for three weeks. The majority of others on the streets were police officers and journalists.

• Promising a very different weekend from the last three, Bell said Thursday that police would take a much stronger approach to the demonstrations that began after a group of Canadian truckers and their supporters drove from Western Canada to Ottawa to challenge a regulation that requires truckers returning from the United States to show proof of vaccination.

• If the truckers are not fully vaccinated, they will be subjected to COVID-19 testing and quarantine requirements. Those same requirements exist on the U.S. side of the border.